DOH says rise in severe, critical cases ”proportional” increase as more COVID-19 reported

September 28, 2020

The Department of Health (DOH) Monday said the rise in the number of severe and critical patients is due to a similar increase in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country.

In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the rise in severe and critical cases is merely a "proportional" increase as more COVID-19 cases being reported.

"As the cases increase, of course, the number of classified patients that are mild, asymptomatic, severe, moderate, and critical also increase," said Vergeire.

"As a proportion to this absolute number of cases, they naturally increase too," she added.

Vergeire said the increase in severe and critical cases is not at a significant level.

"In terms of percentage, the increase in severe and critical cases are not really significant because it is less than one percent," she said.

Vergeire said the DOH is closely monitoring the severe and critical cases.

"We continue to monitor the severe and critical cases so that they can be managed appropriately," said Vergeire.

Another factor, Vergeire related, are cases of mistagging by local disease reporting units.

"There are cases that were tagged by disease reporting units as severe and critical, but have actually already died. So we already reclassified them as deaths," said Vergeire. DMS